Destiny 2’s big spooky event is just around the corner, and Bungie finally teased the new mech-inspired armor players will be chasing. Some people get Ultraman vibes. Others see Power Rangers. But I’m getting a big dose of Gundam, and I’m super pumped about it.
Festival of the Lost goes live on October 18, and while Bungie hasn’t revealed the full details on how this year’s version will work, it traditionally revolves around wearing masks, shooting haunted enemies, and collecting the space candy that falls out to trade in for festive goodies. Last year’s theme was dinosaurs, and it was…fine! This year, players voted for either mechs or monsters, and naturally mechs won (monsters, meanwhile, lost for the second year in a row).
The Gundam-ass armor will be available throughout Festival of the Lost. Hunters look cool, but the mech-theme clearly plays best with the bulky Titan aesthetic, so I will be dusting mine off after a couple seasons in storage. The event will also add a sniper rifle with a new origin perk called Search Party that buff’s aim and movement speed when you’re solo. There’s even a new Rhulk mask so everyone can dress up as their favorite Witness Disciple.
In the meantime, Bungie also announced some big and small changes coming to the rest of Destiny 2. Next week’s mid-season update will re-balance a bunch of weapons, including buffs to auto rifles and some very minor nerfs to a few other weapons like scout rifles. The Rangefinder perk is also getting tweaked and will see 20 percent less bonus aim-assist at long distances, while powerful exotics Jade Rabbit and No Time To Explain see their aim-assist reduced as well.
More importantly, Bungie revealed a big rework of its currency economy that will come in Season 19. Planetary Materials are going away and heroic public events will be the new hotspot for farming Glimmer. The idea is to reduce some of the noise on the inventory screen and make Destiny 2 more approachable for newcomers. While it’s the right move, I still think a much deeper overhaul is needed. Glimmer is also pretty useless at this point.
Yes, it’s required for certain gear upgrades and can also buy extra bounties to farm XP quicker, but it basically feels completely tangential to the rest of the experience, unlike Legendary Shards which are currently being depleted at alarming rates thanks to the expensive seasonal Umbral Engram focusing loop. Lightfall, and whatever other big changes it brings to Destiny 2, can’t come soon enough. For now, it’s almost Gundam time.
